


Counterintuitive

by lightningwaltz



Category: Legend of Korra
Genre: Established Relationship, blatant fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-11
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 11:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningwaltz/pseuds/lightningwaltz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Korra completely fails at doing Tahno's makeup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counterintuitive

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a ficbending prompt :)

Korra’s eyes darted from the kohl, to Tahno’s face, and back to the kohl again. 

“I still don’t know why you always wear this.”

“Fun fact: It protects your eyesight in the desert.” 

“Tahno. We’re not in the desert!”

The two of them had been mildly inebriated an hour ago and, somehow, during the course of giggly, tipsy conversation, they came up with the idea that Korra should try doing his makeup. More specifically Korra had scoffed at the idea, Tahno had challenged her, bets were made, and the rest was drunken history. 

Now, in an unfortunately sober mindset, Korra was not so sure she could follow through. True, she had picked up knowledge from Asami, but at the moment she felt as though she were somehow time traveling. Slipping back into that moment when she had utterly failed at applying facial powder. (Korra had never expected to use her waterbending to clear a room of spilled cosmetics, but bending had its practical applications. Thank the spirits) Korra loved to learn new things, but sometimes- often, really- she only liked to learn them if she could be _good_ at them.

She had to try, at least. 

Sighing, she stood on her tiptoes slightly, grabbed on to Tahno’s chin with her free hand, and peered into his eyes. Or, rather, the margins of his eyes. 

“Is this a plot to get me to memorize your face?” Korra grumbled.

“I don’t know. Was that question a stalling tactic?” Tahno sardonic nature was in full force. Oh well. 

Korra scowled. “Hardly. I’m just… _thinking_.” Once she began, here, there was no turning back. Not without liberal applications of cosmetic remover, and Tahno would be on his own there.

“You have to hold the brush parallel to the eye,” Tahno said, “and get as close to the eye as you can.” He demonstrated with his finger. 

She wanted to brush that off with a flippant ‘oh, be quiet!’ but the instructions emboldened her. Guidelines had an annoying tendency to be useful. “Thanks, it makes a bit more sense now,” she said instead, raising her brush to his face. 

Tahno flinched. 

For an instant, Korra assumed that it was the instinctual reaction to dodge something that seemed to threaten one’s eyes.

Then she remembered the last time Tahno had had to hold still and wait as someone’s hand came near his face.

Korra released her grip from his chin and let it drop to his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay,” she said, gently. She took care to let know traces of pity sneak in to her voice. 

He just nodded. “I know.” 

She was overwhelmed by the sudden need to kiss him but she shoved that idea away. There would be time for that later. Instead she took a deep breath, placed the brush against the inner point of Tahno’s eye, and then began to draw. Carefully, slowly. When Korra finished, she took a step back, and punched the air.

“Yes! I did it!” 

Tahno folded his arms and stared down at her. His expression was one of bemusement. It was difficult to take seriously when one eye was outlined and the other was not. “Don’t get too excited. You’re only halfway done.” 

Not deflated in the slightest, Korra felt the need to grumble at him anyway. “Yeah, yeah. You should just be grateful I didn’t accidentally stab your eye out or something.” 

Tahno laughed and laughed. But when Korra went back to work he fell silent. Probably in an effort to make things as easy as possible for her. All the same, a quiet Tahno was an unusual Tahno. 

The funny thing was, the components of kohl called out to her earthbending skills. It was an ephemeral, ghostly iteration of earth, much like what Korra sensed from impurities in metal, but in this case everything was writ small. If she tried, she could probably move each individual particle to suit her needs. But it would probably take a degree of concentration (not to mention dedication) that was beyond her. 

“Done,” she said, smiling, putting the brush to the side. Then she took one look at Tahno and her face fell. She had been so consumed with the idea of _not destroying his vision for all time_ that she hadn’t paid attention to the quality of her work. “Oh, um…” 

The bags under his eyes had probably been more attractive.

Tahno just sauntered up to one of his mirrors, and clapped his hand over his face. Then he let it drop. “Well. It’s less, uh, subtle than how I do it. But that’s a valid method. I guess.” 

“Come on, Tahno. I did an awful job.” Tahno’s downplaying of her failure was oddly touching. She crossed over to the other side of the room in order to stare over his shoulder. Their eyes met in the mirror, and he smiled at her. Korra stuck out her tongue in response.

“No beginner’s luck for you.” Tahno rummaged in a nearby drawer for his makeup remover. A few swipes of that on a cotton ball, and a great deal of Korra’s work was undone. She felt annoyed. She felt relieved. 

“Oh, I don’t know.” She shot him a sidelong glance. “It kind of reminded me of warriors’ paint. You know, in the Southern Water Tribe?” 

Tahno gave her a sideways sort of smile. “So it was a good look for me?” 

Korra arranged her face into an expression of mock sadness, and shook her head. 

“Didn’t think so.” He blinked a bit, his face now cleared of cosmetics. “Well, you’ll learn.” 

“Excuse me, but no.” Korra grabbed Tahno by the arm and turned him so they were looking at one another. “That was a one time deal, and you know it.” 

Tahno utterly ignored that statement, opting instead to bend down to kiss her. Korra happily complied. She wrapped her arms around the small of his back, pressed her body against his, and thrust her tongue against. She had been standing still for too long, and Korra was now in possession of excess amounts of energy. It was probably the same for Tahno. Thankfully, they both had an outlet.

“So we had a bet going, right?” Tahno asked, when they broke apart.

Korra lightly thwacked him on the chest. “Come on. That bet was barely a bet.” 

“Still, though. Wasn’t it something like … I said you would chicken out of doing my eyeliner, while you said you wouldn’t?” 

“And then if I won the bet, we would have sex. And if I lost the bet we would… have sex.” 

“Well then,” Tahno said, all fake seriousness, “let’s get to it.”

Korra obliged by lifting him up- despite his laughing protests- and carrying him to bed.


End file.
